In 2008, the European Union (EU) created its very ambitious 20-20-20 plan. It called for an increase in renewable energy use throughout the EU by 20 percent by the year 2020. Also included in this plan is a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent under 1990 levels and increased energy efficiency
Last year, my wife and I went through the delightful process of buying a home (I also had to sell a home, but that’s a post for another time). While we can look back and laugh about it now, there were many times when we thought the deal would fall apart.
The home which we now own is an older home, built
Business, or commercial law, is extremely vital throughout the clean technology industry. Law firms are an essential part of the process of addressing a wide variety of issues relevant to different sectors of clean technology companies. These issues may include energy regulatory, bank loans, project financing,
According to a just released report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, New Zealand’s government is the world’s most environmentally friendly country for government sponsored research, spending 13.39 percent the total government budget for environmental research
Utilities are often dismissed or ignored in most discussions of energy efficiency and green building I find this quite remarkable. First, many state laws mandate that utilities engage in energy efficiency efforts. Second, as utilities are directly connected to the energy consumer, utilities are often
Water is one of our planet’s most precious resources. It is ubiquitous: we drink it, wash with it, swim in it, and sail on it. We also use it to produce things like food, paper, and cotton clothing, among others.
But what is “virtual water?” Is it invisible? Sort of. But it is equally – if not more – omnipresent.
A short while ago we discussed the European Union’s Energy Efficiency Plan and its goal to achieve a 20% improvement in its energy savings by the year 2020. Click here for a refresher on that. Basically, we found out that the initially instituted plan wasn’t totally working out as the European Commission had
In August of 2007, North Carolina because the first Southeastern state in the United States to adopt the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard. In this, all investor- owned North Carolinian utilities are mandated to meet a minimum of 12.5 percent of their energy requirements via renewable
Three new standards are sweeping across the local and international stages influencing energy management for non-residential buildings. ISO 50001, BEPA E2797-11, and AB 1103 are changing the thinking regarding energy management and efficiency and are allowing owners and buyers
Since the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced it wouldn’t be backing PACE loans for residential projects a year ago, the buzz around PACE financing has died down. However, many don’t realize that this development only slowed commercial PACE financing by a small measure. In
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) located in Golden, Colorado and is America’s primary laboratory for energy efficiency and renewable energy research and development. NREL’s main mission is to advance the energy goals provided by the United States Department of Energy. The
America is much better in technology than governance. That’s the sentence that leapt out at me and remained prominent throughout my reading of economist Robert Repetto’s book America’s Climate Problem: The Way Forward. I sought the book for review because, although its focus is on the US, what happens there will crucially affect the rest of us,
Talk about a light bulb moment.
A professor of engineering at Edinburgh University recently demonstrated for the first time to a wide audience his technology that uses common every day lights to transmit data.
Harald Haas streamed a video through a desk lamp
Heidelberg, Germany has been seen as at the top of environmental protection throughout Europe as it has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15,000 tons annually in municipal buildings since the year 1993. Furthermore, the city developed a complete energy